Christine, a home seller from Fort Myers Florida had last weeks most viewed thread on Trulia Voices Q&A - We need serious help only! Please don’t answer this question unless you seriously want to HELP! She can’t afford to pay her mortgage and is looking for options to avoid foreclosure. She is considering paying a company $1,000 to help her “Walk Away from your Home.” Our Trulia Voices Real Estate Community has provided some great advice and options for Christine. Let’s check it out.
Thoughts from our Trulia Voices Real Estate Community
Phil Fowler, a real estate agent in Tampa, Florida was to first person to respond, “I am sorry to hear about your situation. Have you called FLASH? Florida Attorneys Saving Homes HOTLINE: 866.607.218″
Elvis, A.K.A. Alan May, is a real estate agent from Evanston, Illinois who says, “In general, the companies that advertise “Walk Away from your home”, and require you to pay them anything to help, are primarily scams. If you’re in the position where you’re ready to walk away from your home, you need to talk to a Real Estate Attorney. Spend you money there… do not buy into those websites.”
Real estate agent Tom Bernardo from Fort Myers, Florida says, “I am sorry for your frustration. I do deal with and help many people in your unfortunate circumstances. A short sale, we help you get your house sold and your bank forgives the difference. There are some credit issues for you in this method, but not as bad as a foreclosure.”
Nancy Doyle, a real estate agent from Cape Coral Florida says,”Phil was right in calling FLASH first. I was shocked to find that banks do not like doing deed in Lieu; but as you have found they don’t. Contact a local attorney…..”
Caroline York is a real estate agent from St. Petersburg, Florida who said, “Since you want to proceed with a Deed in Lieu then I recommend you spend the $1000 on a real estate attorney that will negotiate this action with your lender. Please read the following information provided by Wikipedia that clearly explains the process.”
Deborah Madey, a real estate Broker from Rumson, New Jersey says, “If you are unable to work out a plan with your bank, you have the following options: 1) Deed in lieu - You said you didn’t want to do this. 2) Sell (Maybe a short sale) - You will need a Realtor experienced with short sale negotiations. 3) Bankruptcy with a repayment plan that will allow you to keep your home. You will have to qualify and need to speak with an attorney. 4) Stay in your home until it forecloses.”
Sylvia Barry, a real estate agent from Marin, California says, “My suggestion is to find a Realtor who is experience in short sale and who wants to do short sale to help you. My current short sale client explored various options before deciding on short sale, include in lieu of foreclosure . Both walk away, in lieu of foreclosure have more negative effect on your credit rating than short sale.”
Christine selected real estate agent Janice Qualls’s answer as the best - “1-888-995-HOPE (4673) I believe if you will call this number, you will get serious help You can also go to http://www.HopeNow.com and get information to help you move forward. You may even be able to find a way to re-finance, if that would help. God Bless you and your family.”
My Thoughts:
Unfortunately, there are many homeowners in the United States today who face foreclosure. As our community members pointed out, depending on their specific situation, homeowners have a variety of choices. Although some choices may not be ideal, what’s important is that if you are in this situation, to please make sure and call your lender and local real estate agent. Have a conversation about all of your options. Understand the ramifications of each option. Then make the call on what works for you. We wish everyone in this situation all the best.
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October 14th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
You said she “can’t afford to pay the mortgage”. If she has income she may qualify for a Loan Modification. We are helping people throughout the country keep their homes by modifying their loans.
We have been in business for 5 years and all we do is loan modifications. Last month we did 1800 modifications. We are the specialists that can get it done.
Contact me for a free consultation at http://www.theBestModification.com.
Heather
October 16th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Hi!
I am Beth and I am from Done Deal Solutions,- a company whose owners have over ten-years combined experience helping homeowners who are experiencing difficult times with their mortgage obligation like the way you are facing.
A short sale is the only answer to this. It will help you relieve the stress of being in foreclosure. You can get rid of your big mortgage payment and move on with your life while ending the harassment from your lender. The homeowners that we have helped are tremendously thankful to be relieved of the burden the foreclosure has caused.
Please feel free to call me (602-956-2274) or email (beth@donedealsolutions).
October 29th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Walking away is never the best advice. There are 2 options depending on Christine’s situation. She can either do a short sale — selling her home and getting a significant amount of mortgage debt forgiven (with no recourse) OR a Loan Modification.
We have over 20 years experience in mortgage lending/banking industry and have successful at many short sales and loan modifications. Please visit our site to learn more - http//www.thenegotiatedsolution.com. We offer a course and resources for the homeowner to complete a short sale themselves or full service negotiations for both short sales and load modifications.
As someone else stated - walking away will damage a person’s credit for ages. A short sale — while it does create some damage to a person’s credit, the repercussions are much less. This is the best solution a distressed homeowner has today to minimize the adverse affects of the financial crisis.
Don’t try to do it on your own….you need some guidance. When doing a short sale you are under time pressure….you can waste many months attempting to do it yourself and all the sudden be approaching foreclosure.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:19 am
A loan modification can certainly help in this situation. Several Americans are definitely facing foreclosures because of bad loans, and companies that offer loan modification can help. Try to visit http://www.myloan-modification.com/.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:25 am
the best option is negoiating so that they don’t come after you for a judgement!
January 28th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
There are some options. But the first is to contact the bank and try to work things out. If they are not willing to do so, then a short sale maybe a good anwers. The third step would be to do a deed in-lieu, but that is just as bad as a foreclosure on your credit.
Hope that helps. http://www.sellsarasota.com
February 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Glad you have decided to do research and make calls to HOPE. While contacting your bank is always the first and best step, you should be aware that the reason all these other company’s exist doing “loan modifications” is that, in many cases, your bank/mortgage broker won’t help. They say they cannot modify your loan because your home will not appraise or tell you to do a short sale, but in many instances, they cannot handle the short sale within a reasonable timeframe (another reason banks need to stay out of real estate), they work by “committee” or the decision maker is unaware of “time is of the essence” and the potential buyer walks. I just had a mortgage company refuse a short sale offer of $158K in November, only to go to auction in Dec. and foreclosure. The property was just listed 3 days ago and is on the market for $129K. What is wrong with this picture? Be prepared to be even more frustrated than you are now if you go the short sale route . . . hope it works out for you and your family.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
great post. It will be intresting to see how all of these short sales effect the future real estate market and the future tax code. In our market short sales are punishing traditional sellers in that it is making it almost impossible for them to sell